The Bronze Age refers to a period of human cultural development marked by the use of bronze, an alloy of pure copper and tin or lead. After the emergence of bronze, the level of productivity of agriculture and handicrafts increased, and people's material living conditions were gradually enriched, which played an epoch-making role in improving social productivity. It is reported that the mainland mastered the bronze smelting technology before 3000 BC, when there was no advanced technology and equipment, how did the ancients discover copper ore?
Since ancient times, Chinese has been a diligent and intelligent group, good at constantly summarizing experience in practice. The history book "Pipe" records the conversation between the emperor and Bo Gao about mining: "There are tombstones on the top, and lead tin and red copper on the bottom." There is a stone on the top and a copper and gold on the bottom. There is ochre on the top and iron on the bottom. There is dansha on the top and gold on the bottom. "These methods are summed up by the ancients in practice and then passed on to the next generation." Later generations will find simpler, more practical and more efficient methods on the basis of their predecessors, and this cycle has allowed China's mining industry to develop.
Over time, the ancients came up with a very convenient way to find copper ore — to observe ground plants directly. If the plants on the ground are not all green, but purple or blue, then the place where the plants are located is likely to have copper ore. Practice is the only criterion for testing truth, and the ancients found this method to be more accurate in practice, coupled with the fact that this method is simple and easy to learn, so the method was widely spread in the ancient mineral mining industry. Later, the ancients also gave this flower a name, called "copper grass flower".
The scientific name of the copper grass flower is Haizhou xiangxue, the bracts are round or broad oval, the color of the petals is mostly blue or purple red, and the height is about 30 to 40 cm. The stems of the coppergrass flowers are erect, usually brownish-red, bifid or single, and all quadrilateral. The leaves are opposite, broadly lanceolate to lanceolate, about 2.3 to 3.5 cm long and 3 to 5 mm wide. The leaf has a sharp or blunt tip at the tip and a wedge-shaped tail end. In addition, the leaves are sparsely jagged at the edges.
Copper grass flowers are mainly distributed in Liaoning, Hebei Henan, Yunnan Guichuan, Zhejiang, Gansu and other places. It grows in the mountains where copper ore is stored, and can show the copper deposit area more accurately. Although this method seems simple, its accuracy rate is still quite impressive, not necessarily much worse than the advanced metal detection instruments now, which shows how "terrible" the wisdom of the ancient Chinese is!
In addition to helping people find copper ore, copper grass flowers also have medicinal value, and the whole herb is used in medicine. Copper grass flowers can be used to treat summer colds, headaches, fevers, abdominal pain, vomiting, edema, athlete's foot and other conditions.